best season for budding is at the commencement of the rains> 

 and during the cold weather, though much will depend upon the 

 state of the tree from which you take your bud, and the forward- 

 ness of the stock on which it is to be inoculated, whether the 

 sap is rising in it, and the bark separates with ease from the 

 wood when opened. 



Process. Provide yourself with a good sharp knife, (vide 

 Fig. 29.) and shreds of linen tape, or plantain leaf, about one- 

 fourth of an inch in breadth ; also have a thin blunt piece of flat 

 ivory or bamboo, cut round or smooth at the end, for introducing 

 between the bark and separating it from the wood. Having 

 your knife, shreds, and cuttings, ready, you are to proceed in 

 the following manner : 



With your knife make a cross cut in 

 the smooth part of the bark, rind ofE 

 the stalk, and be careful to make it no 

 deeper than the bark ; let another bo 

 made down the centre about two inches 

 long, so that the two cuts form the 

 figure of the cross, in which the bud is 

 to be inserted. Then from your cut- 

 tings or shoots take off the bud in the 

 following manner : begin at the lower 

 end of the shoot, having removed all 

 the leaves, but leaving a small part of 



the stalk remaining ; then about an inch below the lower bud, or 

 eye, make a cross cut in the shoot, half way through, in a slant- 

 ing direction, carrying the cut upwards in a clean manner to about 

 half an inch below the bud ; here separate it from the stalk with 

 a cross cut ; then with the point of your knife clear away the 

 wood inside from the rind, very gently, and observe if the inside 

 of the eye of the bud be left ; for if there appears a small hole, the 

 eye is gone, and the bud for insertion useless, therefore take 

 another, and when ready, insert it immediately in the stock pre- 

 pared for its reception. Be careful to place the bud in the centre 

 of the perpendicular slit from the cross above, observing that the 

 bud is in no ways injured or pressed upon by the sides or the bark 

 of the stock ; then let that part be immediately bound round 



